Migrant Truckers Sue California After State Cancels Thousands of Commercial Driver’s Licenses
A coalition of migrant truckers has filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Motor Vehicles after the state abruptly canceled nearly 20,000 Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) earlier this week. The move follows pressure from the Trump administration to stop the issuance of commercial licenses to illegal immigrant drivers after a string of deadly accidents.
The federal Department of Transportation had singled out California as one of the worst violators for allowing illegal immigrants to obtain CDLs. Officials warned the state that it could lose up to $160 million in federal funding unless it addressed the problem. In response, California issued 60-day cancellation notices to more than 17,000 CDL holders, citing discrepancies between the license expiration dates and the legal duration of stay permitted for these migrants in the U.S.
The lawsuit, filed by the Asian Law Caucus, Sikh Coalition, and the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, argues that California failed to follow its own regulations. The groups contend that state law requires the DMV to either correct the expiration dates or give license holders a fair opportunity to reapply.
“The state of California must help these 20,000 drivers because, at the end of the day, the clerical errors threatening their livelihoods are of the CA-DMV’s own making,” said Munmeeth Kaur of the Sikh Coalition. “If the court does not issue a stay, we will see a devastating wave of unemployment that harms individual families, as well as the destabilization of supply chains on which we all rely.”
Katherine Zhao of the Asian Law Caucus added, “Our state has a clear moral obligation and legal duty to protect workers who have done everything right. Without an immediate court-ordered stay, many drivers will lose their jobs through no fault of their own.”
The issue gained national attention after one of the drivers, Harjinder Singh, was involved in a fatal crash in Florida in August. Dash-cam footage of the wreck went viral, showing Singh appearing emotionless after making an illegal U-turn that killed three people. Investigators later revealed Singh had failed the CDL test ten times in three months before receiving a license in Washington state, which was later accepted in California. He also failed an English language proficiency test after the crash, reportedly answering only two of twelve verbal questions correctly and misidentifying most road signs.
Trump administration officials have cited cases like Singh’s to justify the crackdown, arguing that lax standards and a disregard for immigration status have endangered American lives and eroded public trust in transportation safety.
The lawsuit now places the state at the center of a legal and political firestorm, as advocates push to protect migrant workers and federal authorities demand accountability for a licensing system they say has been dangerously abused.